It was a warm summer afternoon the time I first saw him.

On my way home from "work," I had decided to take a short walk. It was a good day, it really was. I had just gotten a promotion from just a regular old employee to the boss's right-hand-man. Er, woman.

I grinned at the thought of it. A promotion! After, what, six years of working for the same guy? My grin widened. I loved my job, I really did. It was... different.

You see, I work as a hitman. An assassin, if you will. At first glance, we make out as a rag-tag gang, one of many you would see in the city, but in reality, we're one of the best hired guns you could find.

I, myself, have never actually killed anyone before. Fatally injured, yes, but actually ending someone's life? Not yet. I guess you may be wondering, then how did you get promoted to such a high rank?

Well, just because there's no blood covering my hands, doesn't mean I'm good. I've been training in hand-to-hand combat since I was able to walk; I was taught by my older brother, Taylor, who, I must say, is quite a badass. I love him to pieces. He's my best friend, and I'd trust him with anything.

I could easily take out a 200 lb man with my bare hands, and I was damn good with a gun - or so I was told. I always find mistakes in whatever I do, but everyone's always complimenting me on how well I have been doing.

Earlier today, my boss decided that I didn't deserve to be just a normally ranked "employee." He decided, why the hell not? I'm his most trusted supporter now. I don't see why he didn't pick someone better, like my brother, but whatever. It's over and done with. Not that I wasn't absolutely elated, of course.

Mac Elmore has made some pretty ridiculous decisions, when I thought about it, but he was a good man. A bit of a pervert, but still a good guy, overall. Besides to whole head-of-the-executioners thing.

But enough of that. I know what you're thinking. Enough with all this rambling, who's this guy you mentioned earlier?

Well, if we're gonna be honest here, he's just some stranger I saw in the park

Sitting down at a bench, I looked around, a grin still plastered on my face from the thoughts of my promotion. Soon enough, my eyes landed on a tall man, no older than myself, laughing at something one of his friends must have said.

When I said tall man, I really meant tall man. Judging from the trees and structures around him, he looked about 6'11. I had met some pretty tall guys before, but not this tall. Compared to my measly 5'8, I felt like a wimp, even though he was all the way across the park.

He had soft looking brown hair that framed his face in messy curls. It was a little longer than the average three-week-old haircut. His eyes looked to be a light brown color, with very light specs of gold that blended in easily. Black framed glasses sat on his nose, and the lenses shone in the harsh glare of the sun.

The shirt he wore was a simple one, just a baby blue t-shirt that was matched with loosely fitting white jeans. It really pulled together his looks.

I realized, as I was staring at this stranger that looking vaguely familiar, I realized that he was the one.

This guy would be the first man I would ever kill.

It was a warm summer afternoon the time I first saw her.

I had been hanging out with two of my good friends a little bit after work, just chilling out in the park. It was nice to relax every now and again, seeing as how working as an undercover cop can stress the hell out of you.

I was in a group of "special agents," as they liked to call them. They, being the higher-ups in the world of pigs- er, the police. All it was was that if there was ever a big case or someone on the most wanted list showed up, they called me and a few select other people in to deal with it.

It wasn't exactly a nine-to-fiver, but I liked my job. I really did. Although some of the things we had to experience were quite terrifying, it was interesting to see how criminal minds work.

But none of that really matters now, does it? What you really want to know is about that girl I saw, right?

Well, it was kind of a quick event. I had just done a quick glance around the park, and my eyes passed over her. This girl, strangely, was staring right at me, with the most curious look. I stared right back at her. I saw her blush and look away.

A cheeky smile made its way upon my lips, and my friends finally noticed me staring at this petite girl from across the park. Evil smirks immediately crossed their faces. I glared at them.

"Don't even think about it," I demanded, but it was too late. The two of them already had their arms around me and were dragging me over to the lonesome girl.

Getting a closer look at her, I realized she was quite short. Compared to myself, at least. She had straight, shoulder-length black hair, and sparkling emerald green eyes. Her nose was small, but it fit perfectly on the center of her face, and her lips were full, but not overwhelmingly big. Her skin was a fair medium color, and on her neck was a peculiar tattoo of a strange black marking with two small dots close to her collarbone. She was wearing a cute purple and white sleeveless shirt that hung loosely around her torso, with navy blue jean shorts and gray converse to pull it all together.

The two goons at either of my sides pushed me forward, and I nearly stumbled over the poor girl. I ducked my head, blushing lightly.

"Uh, hey," I sputtered out. I awkwardly held out my hand. "Saw you sitting over here, all by yourself and couldn't help but wander on over."

"Wander on over?" she laughed. "Seems more like you were forced over by your friends here, if you ask me." She took my large hand in her small one and gave it firm shake. Her hands were soft, and very warm, I thought to myself.

"So, stranger," she flashed me a bright smile. "What might your name be?"

Regaining a small amount of my confidence, I bent down and kissed the top of her hand gently. "Jake Forester, at your service. And who would you happen to be, angel face?"

She blushed again, shyly pulling her hand back. "I'm Maddy. Maddy Shaw. Nice to meet you, Jake."

At this point, my friends had gotten bored and wandered somewhere out of the park, leaving me by myself. At this point, I didn't really care.

We carried on like that for a bit, just making small talk. We explored one another's lives. I found out that she was working for a friend of hers, along with her brother, who specialized in odd jobs around town. When I told her that I worked as a cop, she seemed surprised, but nothing really out of the ordinary.

Not long after that, she wrote down her number on a small piece of paper, handed it to me, and told me to call her sometime. I told her that I would, flashed her an award-winning smile, and watched her swiftly walk away. She seemed in a hurry. We must have talked a bit longer than I thought.

This girl… She seemed familiar. Like I had met her before, at another point in time. Not like any of that reincarnation-from-a-past-life kinda stuff, but just like I had seen her in line at a store, or I might have accidentally bumped into her on the street.

Not that I cared, honestly. I already knew one thing was for sure: there was something special about her, something that just drew me near her. I knew that she was the one.

This girl would be the woman I would spend the rest of my life with.

As I hurried away from Jake, my mind spun. A cop? A cop?! My own ridiculous plan was to murder an undercover cop?

I really was an idiot. Still, my mind was set. This guy, Jake Forester, was going down. I was so damn stubborn, even when it was only my own mind opposing my stupid ideas.

I rushed back to HQ, storming into the main rec room and flopping down on the couch. My coworkers didn't acknowledge me, but my brother did. He looked up from whatever the hell it was he was looking at and gave me a questioning look.

"The hell's your problem?" he asked. I apologize in advance for his language. He has a bit of a "potty mouth."

"I got myself into the worst situation possible, Tay," I groaned. He walked over and plopped down next to me, stretching his legs out onto the beat-up coffee table. His loose blue jeans were ripped at the knees, showing off his "damn sexy knees," as he liked to put it. As usual, he was shirtless. He didn't do this to show off his well toned body, but rather, because he just felt more comfortable like that. His straight black hair fell over the left side of his face, hanging almost exactly like mine.

"Okay, now, talk to big brother Tay Tay. He's gonna make everything a-okay," Taylor jested, pulling me in for playful one-armed hug.

I spilled everything out to him. About how I met Jake, totally thought he was the one, and then found out he was a cop. Now that I think about it, I don't even know why I wanted to take him down. I guess I wanted to prove to Mac that I deserved my position, as well as to everyone else. Finding out he was an undercover cop made me reinforce that thought even more.

Taylor never interrupted me, but just listened quietly. At some point during the beginning, Mac had walked in and started to listen as well. After I finished, they both looked at each other, than at me, and burst out laughing.

I blushed angrily and glared daggers into both of them.

"The hell are you laughing at?!" I hissed, frustrated. They just started to laugh even more.

"Oh, fuck, you're too precious!" Taylor gasped. Mac nodded in agreement, not able to find any words to make fun of me with.

"Dear god, save me," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. After a good three minutes of them just laughing at me, they finally calmed down.

"See, Mads," Mac started, still chuckling lightly, "All you gotta do is seduce the guy, then kill 'em when he least expects it. But make it painful, if you can. A quick shot to the head should be fine."

"Just a lil' bip in the important internal organs should do the trick!" Taylor agreed, nodding enthusiastically. I stared at them.

"How are you so calm about this?" I implored.

Taylor shrugged, and Mac just laughed again. "You get used to it."

It had been four months since then. Since that so-called fateful day that Jake and I had met. Since he had adapted that stupid nickname for me that honestly made my heart flutter every time I heard it. Since we had started "dating."

I pretended that I loved him. I acted like I cared for him. Maybe, I did. Maybe, I didn't. I like to tell myself that I thought nothing of him. I don't think that was the truth, though.

One night, I got a text from him.

hey, can't make it tonight. something came up

I replied quickly.

that's fine. how bout tomorrow night then? c:

sounds great. see you then. c:

love you 3

love you too angel face 3

Taylor peered over my shoulder. "Not going tonight?" I shook my head.

"Something came up, apparently. Probably some dumb cop stuff." I shrugged my shoulders, sitting down on the couch.

"Some dumb cop stuff, eh? Could include us, you know." Taylor said playfully, wiggling his eyebrows as he layed down next to me, propping his feet up comfortably in my lap.

"Sure," I laughed as I rolled my eyes. "And Jake's gonna propose to me tomorrow."

We both got a kick out of that, laughing heartily, when suddenly, Mac came running in with an urgent look on his face.

"Everyone, up, now. Grab your guns, and get ready to kill some poor bastards." Taylor and I glanced at each other before jumping up and running out into the main room.

Taylor grabbed a pair of pistols, angling them expertly in his hands, while I armed myself with a couple of throwing knives and my trusty .45 caliber pistol and got into position. I crouched out around some cleverly-placed waist-high cover, courtesy of the boss. To this day, I still had not taken someone's life, so I was a bit nervous, but I was ready.

It was completely silent for what seemed like an eternity, and then, the door came down. One guy in front, decked in full bullet-proof armor and armed with a fully loaded battle rifle charged in and held up his gun, followed by an entire troop of reinforcements.

"Everyone come out with your hands up and no one will get hurt!" he commanded.

Strange, I thought. I recognize that voice. With a quick nod passed around through my coworkers, we all peeked up from above our cover and aimed our guns.

As we did, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

My gun clattered to the ground as I stared at the man leading the raid.

Jake.

The cop looked straight at me. "... Maddy?"

He looked back just in time to watch a bullet go straight into his uncovered shoulder.